Purple Ink and Lifelong Lessons by Stephanie

Purple Ink and Lifelong Lessons by Stephanie - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

This year marks ten years since I graduated high school. Over the years, former classmates have gathered to discuss fond memories of high school: friends, homecoming, favorite classes, and favorite teachers. For me it was simple. To this day, my favorite and most influential teacher has been my 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Mr. Anderson.

When I signed up for Dual Enrollment English my junior year, I was confident I would have no trouble. I had always excelled in my English classes. I had won awards for history essays and scored at the top of the charts in placement tests. I never worried when it came to writing essays-until I had Mr. Anderson.
I will always remember the shock I felt when I received my first essay back from him. It was covered from top to bottom in purple criticisms. For the first time, I had received a failing grade on a paper. Looking around the room, my classmates all shared my horror at the purple ink slashing through our essays.

At that point, I realized Mr. Anderson was unlike other English teachers. We later learned that Mr. Anderson was a former college teacher who had switched over to high school. He expected us to write like college students and over the next two years, he taught us to improve our English, grammar, and literature skills. He made us work hard to earn our A’s which was a task that had come easy to many of us in the past. Even now, after completing both an Associate and Bachelor’s degree, I have never been happier to make an A than I was the first time I received one from Mr. Anderson. His high standards pushed me to become a better student and I am thankful for it.

Aside from striving to improve our English skills, Mr. Anderson imparted even deeper wisdom on me. One of our final assignments was to write an essay discussing our plans for the future. My senior year, I had begun volunteering at a local wildlife rehabilitation center and the topic often came up in my essays. The week of our high school graduation, Mr. Anderson had a heart to heart talk with our class. He encouraged us all to follow our dreams, even if that dream was to become a zoo keeper and scoop poop for a living. He also reminded us not to settle too young. If we wanted to travel the world-go! Don’t wait until we were married with children because traveling the world isn’t quite as easy then. He also encouraged us not to let anyone or anything hold us back.

While that sounds like advice any teacher might give a student-he was the only one to give our graduating class that advice. Even now, ten years later, his words have stuck with me. During my college years and even after I often reflected back on his parting words to us. I took his advice to heart. In the summer of 2008, I postponed my college graduation by a semester so I could follow my dreams and spent the summer in Thailand working with elephants. I later took another leap and joined the circus for an internship working with elephants. I refused to let anyone or anything hold me back from following my dreams.

Mr. Anderson positively affected my attitude towards education more than any other teacher. I truly wish that all teachers were like him and not only encouraged students to do their best in school, but also in their personal lives. He made me strive to become a better student and over the years to become a better person.